Destiny Arrives

by Liza Palmer

  "Tinkle m the cup. We're not looking. What's there to see? What's a twig? Everybody's seen a twig before." "I am Groot." Groot's voice was increasingly panicked.

  "Tree, pour what's in the cup out into space and go in the cup again/' Thor said, turning to the wriggling sapling. "You speak Groot?" Rocket asked, turning around in his captain's chair. "Yes, they taught it on Asgard. It was an elective."

  "I am Groot/' Groot said, now bored now that he was no longer panicked about needing to pee.

  "You'll know when we're close. Nidavellir's force harnesses the blazing power of a neutron star." Thor stepped away from the window and sat down wearily on a step, his head hung low. "It's the birthplace of my hammer. It's truly awesome." Rocket spun back around, hearing the flatness m Thor's voice.

  "Okay, time to be a captain." Rocket put on the autopilot, undid his seat belt, and walked over to Thor. He busied himself with some coordinates on a readout as he spoke. "So, dead brother, huh? Yeah, that could be annoying."

  "Well, he's been dead before. But, no, this time I think it really might be true," Thor said, as if coming to terms with it just in that very moment.

  "And you said your sister and your dad?"

  "Both dead," Thor said, shaking his head.

  "But still got a mom, though?"

  "Killed by a dark elf " Thor couldn't look at Rocket.

  "A best friend?"

  "Stabbed through the heart." Thor's voice was detached as he rattled off all the people he'd lost. He was growing more and more melancholy. Rocket stepped closer. "You sure you're up for this particular murder mission?"

  "Absolutely." Thor brushed away Rocket's concern with a forced laugh. "Rage and vengeance, anger, loss, regret. They're all tremendous motivators. They really clear the mind. So, I'm good to go."

  "Yeah, but this Thanos we're talkin' about. ..he's the toughest there is."

  "Well, he's never fought me."

  "Yeah, he has." Rocket pointed out the obvious.

  Thor considered Rocket's response. "He's never fought me twice. And I'm getting a new hammer, don't forget."

  "It better be some hammer." Rocket's words washed over Thor and the forced laugh crumbled into a sorrow that was rooted deep in Thor's bones. He struggled to find his footmg. He couldn't let this get to him.

  "You know, I'm fifteen hundred years old. I've killed twice as many enemies as that. And every- one of them would've rather killed me, but none succeeded. I'm only alive because fate wants me alive. Thanos is just the latest in a long line of bastards and he'll be the latest to feel my vengeance. Fate wills it so."

  "And what if you're wrong?" Rocket's question hit Thor m the chest. But it was the answer that took his breath away.

  "If I'm wrong, then what more could I lose?" Thor's words felt vast as he swiped away a mutinous tear. He got up and walked away from Rocket before he was forced to face any more dismal truths about what used to be his full and wonderful life.

  "I could lose a lot," Rocket muttered to himself. "Me, personally, I could lose a lot." Rocket pulled something from his vest. "Okay " Rocket walked over to Thor. "Well, if fate does want you to kill that crapsack, you're

  gonna need more than one stupid eyeball." Rocket handed him the gift. "What's this?" Thor took it.

  "What's it look like? Some jerk lost a bet with me on Contraxia." Rocket climbed back up into the captain s chair: buckled in: and turned off autopilot. "He gave you his eye?"

  "No, he gave me a hundred credits. I snuck into his room later that night and stole the eye."

  "Thank you: sweet rabbit." Thor peeled off his eye patch just as Groot leaned over, intrigued by what was quickly turning into something way more interesting than that video game. Thor spread his eye socket wide and popped m the new eye.

  "I would've washed that. The only way I could sneak it off Contraxia was up my—" An alarm blared through the ship. "Hey, we're here!"

  Thor focused his new eye as it calibrated itself to its new owner, whacking the side of his head. "I don't think this thing works. Everything seems dark." Thor stood and stared out the ship's front window.

  "It ain't the eye." Eerie darkness surrounded them.

  "Something's wrong. The star's gone out. And the rings are frozen."

  Whatever Rocket had hoped to see when he reached Nidavellir vanished like the light of the neutron star the great forge once held. Rocket carefully navigated their ship to the star 's surface.

  The trio landed and exited the ship, and as Thor walked among the forge's ruins, he was haunted by what could have caused this.

  "I hope these dwarves are better at forging than they are at cleaning. Maybe they realized that they live m a junk pile m the middle of space."

  "This forge hasn't gone dark in centuries," said the Asgardian.

  Rocket gulped audibly. He was looking down at something—the possible answer to the mystery of why Nidavellir was in the state of rum. "You said Thanos had a Gauntlet, right?" Rocket called out to Thor.

  "Yes, why?"

  Thor walked over to see what Rocket had found. "It look anything like that?"

  A mold, the only one left intact as far as they could see, was lying next to the forging basin. It was in the shape of a large glove with six insets. There was no doubt—they were at the birthplace of the Infinity Gauntlet. "I am Groot!" came a sharp warning from the teenaged treelike creature.

  "Get back to the pod," Thor commanded, fearing the worst. But it was too late. A giant with long, shaggy hair and a dark bushy beard appeared out of nowhere. He kicked Thor across the forge, turned, and did the same to Groot and Rocket. The giant advanced on Thor, and through that mussed mane of hair, Thor saw murder in his eyes.

  "Eitri, wait!" The large creature paused at the sound of his name. "Stop!" Thor's voice repeated the word, calmingly. "Stop."

  Eitri the Dwarf, keeper of the forge at Nidavellir, maker of Mjolnir, halted in his tracks. His clothes were tattered. His hair was tangled. He looked as though he had not slept m months, and smelled like his last bath had been even longer ago.

  "Thor?" Eitri's voice was tinged with recognition, as though he was coming out of a fog.

  Thor approached his longtime friend. "What happened here?"

  "You were supposed to protect us. Asgard was supposed to protect us," Eitri howled in grief.

  "Asgard is destroyed." Thor stood and pointed back at the Gauntlet mold. "Eitri: the glove. What did you do?"

  The dwarf looked around; shame and regret filled his face. Eitri stumbled over to the forge and slid to the floor m defeat. "Three hundred dwarves lived on this rmg. I thought if I did what he asked, they'd be safe. I made what he wanted, a device capable of harnessing the power of the Stones." Despair now tinged every word. "Then he k...then he killed everyone anyway. All except me."

  It was then that Thor noticed Eitri's hands were gnarled and encased m unbreakable steel.

  "'Your life is yours/ he said, 'but your hands are mine alone.'"

  Thor's voice was strong, commanding, and his attitude assuring. "Eitri, this isn't about your hands. Even* weapon you've ever designed, even* ax, hammer, sword...it's all inside your head. Now, I know it feels like all hope is lost. Trust me, I know. But together, you and I..." The Odmson made Eitri's eyes meet his and spoke a vow that stirred in Eitri's heart.

  "We can kill Thanos."

  Half a galaxy away, the Sanctuary ■ II hovered in deep space. It housed those who believed m Thanos's cause, the many races who served in his armies, and hundreds of guards dedicated to protecting him, even if he was off- board, as he was now.

  One such guard was put in charge of piecing back together the mangled body that used to be Thanos's second-favorite daughter. Nebula. He encircled her as she hung m her suspended prison state, pushing and twisting parts of her back to where they were prior to her father rippmg her apart tendon by tendon. He heard a whir and saw her cybernetic eye had extended. They were under the strictest of orders to make sure nothing happened to Nebula until T
hanos returned from Vormir. The guard investigated the cybernetic eye.

  Her trap sprung. Nebula quickly overcame the guard. As his body hit the floor she thought to herself. Be thankful you won't have to face Thanos when he finds me gone. Focusmg on the task at hand. Nebula raced to the comms station inside her cell. She punched in familiar coordinates.

  Before those on the other end could acknowledge they'd received her call. Nebula hushed them. Leaning m, Nebula whispered to her sometime teammate.

  "Mantis, listen very carefully. I need you to meet me on Titan."

  "Hey, what's gomg on?" Peter Parker asked, as the flying doughnut they were on began to feel more like it was careening for Titan than landing on Titan.

  "I think we're here," Strange said, watchmg as the planet closed m at an alarmingly fast rate.

  "I don't think this rig has a self-park function," Tony said. He hurried over to Peter and pushed him toward one of the steermg mechanisms. "Get your hand inside the steermg gimbal. Close those around it. You understand?" Tony set himself up in the other one.

  "Yep, got it." Peter did as he was told.

  "This was meant for one big guy, so we gotta move at the same time." Always the mentor, even while asking his student to help land a giant doughnut on a faraway planet.

  "Okay, okay. Ready." Peter watched in horror as their ship pitched and sped directly toward the giant starlike structures that peppered Titan's landscape.

  "We might wanna turn. Turn! Turn! Turn!" Tony activated his suit for more power, as did Peter. But nothing helped. The ship was crashing. Strange stepped forward and conjured a golden force field around all three of them as the ship snapped in two and fell to the planet's surface.

  Titan was a place haunted by its long-ago grandeur now ruins built upon ruins. Star-shaped structures littered the area; ash and dust filled the air as though the planet was aflame. The pale red sky only added to the apocalyptic feeling. There were pockets where gravity barely existed, causing dust and debris to hang in the air, like a grave surrounding them.

  "You all right?" Strange ran over to Tony, still struggling in the wreckage of what was left of Ebony Maw's ship. Strange extended a hand. Tony gladly took it and let the mystic help him up to a standing position, a far cry from where the two had been previously.

  "That was close," said Tony. Strange nodded, looking around at what was left of the ship. "I owe you one."

  Peter lowered himself from what was left of the ceiling of the ship and began rambling. "Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something and I eat one of you, I'm sorry—"

  Tony cut Peter off, pointing a disciplinary finger up at the boy. "I do not want another single pop culture reference out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?" Tony scolded.

  "I'm trying to say that something is coming," Peter blurted.

  Before they could react, a metal ball rolled in between all three of them and exploded, sending Strange and Tony flying.

  From behind an outcropping, the Guardians of the Galaxy sprang to action.

  "Thanos!" Drax yelled as he threw his twin blades at Strange. A quick flick of Strange's wrist and a magical whip disarmed the charging green-skinned Drax. Before Drax could recover, the Cloak of Levitation easily pinned the muscular Drax to the ground.

  Iron Man took to the sky, dodging blasts from the masked Star-Lord. The two exchanged fire, each deftly dodging and blocking the other's blows in midair. It looked like Iron Man had the upper hand, until Star-Lord planted a powerful magnet on Tony's RT, which left him stuck and squirming against a twisted piece of metal.

  "Please don't put your eggs in me," Peter howled as he backed away from Mantis, shootmg webs as he swerved and looped to evade her.

  "Stay down, clown," Star-Lord yelled, kicking him away from entrapping Mantis any further. Spider-Man rolled away, activating his exoskeleton of four spider legs, hopping and swinging around the ship's wreckage, dodging Star-Lord's blasts.

  Drax wrestled with the Cloak, trying to both free himself and contain the sentient cloth. "Die, blanket of death! " he bellowed.

  Tony finally freed himself, flew over to the embattled Drax, and loomed over him, weapons fully activated. Seeing this, Star-Lord grabbed Spider-Man and pulled him in, holding his blaster to the side of the boy's head.

  "Everybody stay where you are. Chill the eff out," he said. Quill reached up and deactivated his mask. He turned to Iron Man. "I'm gonna ask you this one time: Where's Gamora?"

  "Yeah," Tony challenged. "I'll do you one better: Who's Gamora?" He raised his faceplate.

  Still pinned to the ground by the Cloak of Levitation, Drax waxed philosophical. "I'll do you one better: IJTiy is Gamora?"

  "Tell me where the girl is or I swear to you I'm gonna french fry this little freak." Quill pushed his blaster harder against Spider-Man's skull.

  "Let's do it. You shoot my guy and I'll blast him. Let's go!" Tony yelled, calling Quill's bluff. But however much bravado Tony seemed to have, the dread of exactly this moment was laced m his words. He was terrified. Pushing through his fear, Tony held a particularly menacing-looking weapon mches from Drax's face.

  "Do it. Quill! I can take it." Drax lifted his hands in surrender and braced himself. "No, he can't take it," Mantis yelled.

  "She's right. You can't," Strange agreed, flicking his gaze over to Drax.

  "Oh yeah? You don't want to tell me where she is? That's fine. I'll kill all three of you and I'll beat it out of Thanos myself. Starting with you." Quill tightened his grip on Spider-Man. "Wait, what, Thanos? All right, let me ask you this one time. What master do you serve?" Strange asked, his voice breathless as it cut through the chaos.

  "What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say, Jesus?" Quill's frustrated sigh could be heard back m New York. Tony stared at him, a realization beginning to crystallize. "You're from Earth," Tony stated, his face creased with hidden terror at this idiot still pressmg his blaster to Spider-Man's head. "I'm not from Earth, I'm from Missouri."

  "Yeah, that's on Earth, moron. What are you hasslmg us for?" Tony barked, completely frustrated. "You're not with Thanos?" Spider-Man asked, his voice muffled and tiny.

  "With Thanos? No, I'm here to kill Thanos. He took my girl. Wait, who are you?" Quill finally lowered his blaster. The loss of Gamora had made him feel as though he was going crazy, and he was having trouble keeping anything straight in his mmd except that he needed to find the woman he loved.

  "We're the Avengers, man," Peter said, finally revealing his face.

  "You're the ones Thor told us about," Mantis said, her voice loud and panicked.

  Those words stopped Iron Man in his tracks. "You know Thor?"

  "Yeah. Tall guy, not that good-looking, needed saving," Quill said, trying to keep his voice level.

  Knowing that Thor had survived Thanos's attack, possibly one of the only creatures to have done so, piqued Doctor Strange's interest. He must speak with Thor; he felt the Asgardian had a very important role in the tapestry that was unfolding.

  "Where is he now?"

  The darkened forge of Nidavellir held many secrets in its depths. Eitri held one such secret close. It was an ancient mold, a cast. On one end was the shape of an ax, on the other the shape of a hammer. Rocket looked unimpressed. "This is the plan? We're gonna hit him with a rock?"

  Giving Rocket a withering glare, Eitri explained. "It's a mold. A king's weapon. Meant to be the greatest in Asgard. In theory, it could even summon the Bifrost."

  At the mention of this weapon, and the possibility of wieldmg the Bifrost, Thor turned quickly. If they could use this weapon to cross the Nine Realms, he could race Thanos to Earth and stop him.

  "Did it have a name?" Thor asked.

  "Stormbreaker."

  Rocket scoffed. "That's a bit much."

  Thor had studied all of Asgardian lore when it came to weapons. This was something thought only to be legend. Until now. "So how do we make it?" At this: Eitri's face fell. "You'll hav
e to restart the forge. Awaken the heart of a dying star."

  Thor accepted the challenge, an idea forming. Turning to Rocket, he nodded to the ship's captam. "Rabbit, fire up the pod."

  On Titan, the Guardians and the Avengers were attempting to come to a meeting of the minds.

  "The hell happened to this planet? It's eight degrees off its axis. Gravitational pull is all over the place," Quill said as he stepped gingerly among the crumbling ruins of the decimated surface.

  "Yeah, we've got one advantage: he's commg to us," said Tony. In the background Mantis jumped and spun high into the air, taking advantage of the planet's bizarre gravity. Tony continued, "We'll use it. All right, I have a plan." He walked over to Quill. "Or the beginnings of one. It's pretty simple. We draw him in, pin him down, get what we need. Definitely don't wanna dance with this guy. We just want the Gauntlet." It was simple, but it was a start.

  Then he heard Drax yawn.

  Tony was infuriated. "Are you yawning? In the middle of this, while I'm breaking it down? Huh? Did you hear what I said?" "I stopped listening after you said 'We need a plan. "

  "Okay, Mr. Clean is on his own page," Tony said, ready to hurry this whole thing along.

  "See, ;not winging it' isn't really what we do," Quill explained.

  "What exactly is it that you do?" Spider-Man asked, pointing at Mantis and Drax.

  "Kick names, take butt," Mantis said, her voice a "menacing" roar.

  "Yeah, that's right," Drax agreed, standing taller.

  Tony stared at the two for a long time.

  A long time.

  They were about to take on the greatest enemy they'd ever faced. This was an enemy that had haunted Tony for six years. An enemy that threatened to wipe out half of the universe, untold trillions of beings with the snap of his fingers. And he was on an apocalyptic, dead planet millions of miles from home with none of his usual partners. He was m the fight of his life and he was utterly alone. No, he was worse than alone. He had a wide-eyed kid he had to protect, an arrogant magician, and now these three idiots who appeared to be just cocky enough to get them all killed.

  "All right, just get over here, please. Mr. Lord, can you get your folks to circle up?"